Already outgrowing the efficiency of your 15’ WRX top-mount intercooler setup? Planning for some big power in the near future? Sounds like your Subie needs an efficient front-mount intercooler (FMIC)! Luckily, our team has been working to develop this product for months. Check out the process below!

Intercooler Design

Our team decided to start this product with the design of the actual heat exchanger. We would need to address the core, end tanks and how we would mount this cooler to the vehicle. In addition, this cooler would need to slip behind the front bumper with very minimal trimming needed.

Our first interest was in the mounting of the crash beam. As with our previous-generation kit, we would need to replace the stock front crash beam with a new unit to allow space for the intercooler. So we started by removing the bumper and crash beam.

As you can see, the 15’ chassis was not going to make things easy for us. Only two of the six mounting bolts lined up. The beam was also too close to the vehicle and needed to protrude further outward for proper cooler mounting. So, we would be starting from scratch on this one.

Next, we mocked up the 2001–2014 intercooler to see if maybe this unit could be used in conjunction with a new beam.

This test fit presented us with some interesting information. First, the size of this core was ideal for the available front bumper space. Second, this core would cover the entire front grille, providing ideal airflow through the full length of the core. And finally, the end tanks were going to be a problem. The overall length and curvature was just not going to work with our plans for the pipe routing on the new WRX. We would need to design new end tanks for our 15’ kit.

With this initial information collected, our next step was to modify or fabricate new intercooler end tanks and begin constructing a new crash beam for the 15’ chassis.